US Senate blocks Iron Dome funding to Israel

[King_David]

Republicans nix aid proposal out of fear that "it would increase the debt"; Majority Leader Harry Reid says"If this isn’t an emergency I don’t know anything that is.”


http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/US-Senate-blocks-Iron-Dome-funding-to-Israel-369699

[oberliner]

1. Senate Approves Additional Iron Dome Funding For Israel

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Friday rushed through a $225 million bill to replenish Israel's missile defense system, and House approval was expected in the final hours before lawmakers began a summer break.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/01/senate-iron-dome-funding_n_5641627.html

[msongs]

2. solution is obvious - sell it to them nt

[Shaktimaan]

3. Huh?

Sell them funding? Ok maybe that's obvious to you, but can you explain exactly how it would work?

[Scootaloo]

4. What a weird world we live in!

Who knew that the Republicans would hate passing bills more than they love donating chunks of the treasury to Israel?

[azurnoir]

5. as usual the devil is in the details

from the OP here

A United States Senate bid to deliver aid to Israel during Operation Protective Edge was blocked by Republicans "over concerns that it would increase the debt," Politico reported.

The Democrats proposed a $2.7 billion border aid package that included $255 for the Iron Dome missile defense system.

http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/US-Senate-blocks-Iron-Dome-funding-to-Israel-369699

what actually happened

The Senate on Friday rushed through a $225 million bill to replenish Israel's missile defense system, and House approval was expected in the final hours before lawmakers began a summer break.

The money will go to restocking Israel's Iron Dome, which has been credited with shooting down dozens of incoming rockets fired by Palestinian militants over three and a half weeks of war. The vote came two days after the Pentagon announced ammunition deliveries to the Jewish state and as a planned 72-hour cease-fire between Israel and Hamas unraveled almost as quickly as it began.

Efforts in the Senate to approve the money stalled Thursday night after Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma sought cuts elsewhere in the budget to pay for the aid. Earlier, senators attempted to lump the Israel money into a broader spending bill that included border security and wildfire assistance money. That bill failed to get the necessary 60 votes on Thursday, and the House had little interest in it, anyway. Friday's separate Israel bill passed by voice vote.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/01/senate-approves-funding-for-israels-iron-dome-defense-system/

[King_David]

6. Fo x news ?

[azurnoir]

7. well the OP is from Jpost

[King_David]

8. Fox News ?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

9. Jpost?

[The Green Manalishi]

10. Everyone is missing the point

Even the anti-Semites want to fund Iron Dome. It's practical field testing and advanced development without putting American lives at risk. I think there's a strain of "let the Israelis work the bugs out" behind the funding for it. Plus even someone who was highly pro Palestinian is not necessarily going to be pro having Hamas missiles slamming into civilians of any nationality.

[King_David]

11. Who are the "antisemites"?

[The Green Manalishi]

12. Bad phrase.

I mean that, in my observation, even some of the people who are not sympathetic with Israel and/or who are generally sympathetic with it's opponents are not necessarily against the development and deployment of Iron Dome.

Makes sense to test something like this in the hands of highly motivated and competent users and work out the bugs and techniques without too many Americans at risk. Being entirely cynical here.

Me, well, I try not to comment directly as almost all of my friends and mentors when I was young were Zionists so I tend to be reflexively highly sympathetic to Israel, too, even though I'm an Irish atheist and loath all religion